Appropriate methodologies for empirical bioethics: It's all relative
Bioethics 23 (4):249-258 (2009)
| Abstract | In this article we distinguish between philosophical bioethics (PB), descriptive policy orientated bioethics (DPOB) and normative policy oriented bioethics (NPOB). We argue that finding an appropriate methodology for combining empirical data and moral theory depends on what the aims of the research endeavour are, and that, for the most part, this combination is only required for NPOB. After briefly discussing the debate around the is/ought problem, and suggesting that both sides of this debate are misunderstanding one another (i.e. one side treats it as a conceptual problem, whilst the other treats it as an empirical claim), we outline and defend a methodological approach to NPOB based on work we have carried out on a project exploring the normative foundations of paternal rights and responsibilities. We suggest that given the prominent role already played by moral intuition in moral theory, one appropriate way to integrate empirical data and philosophical bioethics is to utilize empirically gathered lay intuition as the foundation for ethical reasoning in NPOB. The method we propose involves a modification of a long-established tradition on non-intervention in qualitative data gathering, combined with a form of reflective equilibrium where the demands of theory and data are given equal weight and a pragmatic compromise reached. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesGuy Widdershoven (ed.) (2008). Empirical Ethics in Psychiatry. Oxford University Press.
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff (2002). Basic Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability  Towards a Foundation of Bioethics and Biolaw. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5 (3):235-244.
Bert Molewijk, Anne M. Stiggelbout, Wilma Otten, Heleen M. Dupuis & Job Kievit (2004). Scientific Contribution. Empirical Data and Moral Theory. A Plea for Integrated Empirical Ethics. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 7 (1):55-69.
Barry Hoffmaster & Cliff Hooker (2009). How Experience Confronts Ethics. Bioethics 23 (4):214-225.
Carlo Leget, Pascal Borry & Raymond de Vries (2009). 'Nobody Tosses a Dwarf!' The Relation Between the Empirical and the Normative Reexamined. Bioethics 23 (4):226-235.
Richard E. Ashcroft (2003). Constructing Empirical Bioethics: Foucauldian Reflections on the Empirical Turn in Bioethics Research. Health Care Analysis 11 (1):3-13.
Samia Hurst (2010). What 'Empirical Turn in Bioethics'? Bioethics 24 (8):439-444.
Lucy Frith (2010). Symbiotic Empirical Ethics: A Practical Methodology. Bioethics 26 (4):198-206.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-03-29Total downloads41 ( #27,938 of 549,625 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,397 of 549,625 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
